S80 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



honour and esteem by every successive generation of British 

 naturalists. 



A very different man from the Northumbrian controversialist 

 was the father of Gallic zoology. Pierre Belon was the favourite 

 of prelates, welcomed by foreign ambassadors, and flattered by 

 courtly parasites. But he was not spoilt by mature prosperity 

 any more than by his early adversity. A lively, quick-witted 

 Frenchman, with a passionate love of birds, he had obtained a 

 good knowledge of the birds of his beloved France before he 

 commenced those travels which have rendered his name so 

 famous. Aldrovandi says that his French was very bad, but 

 good Ulysses must have his little hit at all possible rivals. 

 Probably he was right in this particular, for the prose of Belon's 

 ' Oyseaux ' is difficult reading; but it is one of the few books which 

 we can always take up with fresh pleasure. Belon has the knack 

 of making you feel that he is talking to you about the birds he 

 has just seen ; the Vultures that soar around the volcanic hills 

 of Auvergne ; the Wall- Creepers that zigzag about the precipices ; 

 the Ptarmigan that frequent the high Alps ; and many other 

 fowls of divers orders. His prose is full of chit-chat. At one 

 moment he describes the anatomy of some uncommon bird ; at 

 the next he is telling you how to cook a Hoopoe, or something 

 equally irrelevant to the theme upon which he was gravely dis- 

 coursing an instant ago. He was interested by two species of 

 birds which he found in England ; for of course he visited 

 England, like Clusius and other contemporary naturalists. The 

 first species, which was new to Belon, was the Norfolk Plover ; 

 the other was the Cornish Chough. When he recrossed the 

 Channel he searched for Norfolk Plover, and found that this 

 species was common to France as well as Britain. The migra- 

 tion of birds constantly occupied his thoughts. He was much 

 impressed by the sight of Quail migrating across the Mediter- 

 ranean. His remarks upon the migratory habits. of Pelicans are 

 very interesting ; but, indeed, he was a delightful raconteur, and 

 could entertain you with some pleasant reminiscence of almost 

 every European bird. His untimely death by the hand of an 

 assassin in the Bois de Boulogne, at Paris, was one of the saddest 

 events of the sixteenth century. Our French confreres have 

 reason to be proud of Pierre Belon, of Le Mans. 



